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Men's Hoops Opens Season On Friday, Nov. 14

Arizona State will open its men's basketball season on Friday, Nov. 14, at Wells Fargo Arena against 2008 NCAA Tournament participant and SWAC Tournament champion Mississippi Valley State and will play 15 home games in 2008-2009. An updated schedule with times and television will be announced as soon as broadcast plans are finalized by both the Pac-10 and then Fox Sports Arizona.

ASU plays Mississippi Valley State and then travels to San Diego State on Tues., Nov. 18, to take on the Aztecs who were 20-13 last season and had a RPI of 82. ASU will then host Pepperdine on Sun., Nov. 23, before traveling to the Anaheim Classic for games Nov. 27, 28 and 30.

ASU will take on Charlotte (20-14, RPI of 68) in the first round of the Anaheim Classic on Thanksgiving at 6 p.m. PT/7 p.m. PT on ESPNU. ASU will face either 2008 NCAA Tournament participant Baylor (21-11/43 RPI) or Providence, under new head coach and 2008 national coach of the year Keeno Davis in the second round. The other four teams in the field include 2008 NCAA participants St. Mary's (25-7/36 RPI) and Cal State Fullerton (24-9/80 RPI) as well as Wake Forest (17-13/100 RPI) and UTEP (19-14/102 RPI). Both Wake Forest and Baylor have received top 25 preseason honors from ESPN.

ASU will then host Jackson State on Thursday, Dec. 4, before hosting Nebraska in the Big-12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series on Sunday, Dec. 7. Nebraska was 20-13 last year and beat ASU 62-47 last year in Lincoln.

ASU then plays a pair of local neutral site games against 20-game winners from a year ago. ASU will play at US Airways Arena on Sunday, Dec. 14, against IUPUI (26-7/69 RPI) with Gonzaga taking on Arizona in the other contest. On Sunday, Dec. 20, ASU will take on BYU, the Mountain West Conference champion from a year ago who was 27-8 (RPI of 25) at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, the first basketball game to be played in the Stadium. Louisville and Minnesota is the other game. ASU will host the West Regional March 26-28, 2009 at University of Phoenix Stadium.

ASU takes Idaho State (Dec. 23) and Central Connecticut State (Dec. 29) in the games sandwiched around the Christmas holiday.

The Sun Devils will open Pac-10 play on the road at Stanford (Friday, Jan. 2) and at California (Sunday, Jan. 4) and then host Oregon State (Thursday, Jan. 8) and Oregon (Saturday, Jan. 10).

The Oregon game starts a five-game string of games against 2008 NCAA Tournament opponents, as after Oregon ASU travels to USC (Jan. 15), UCLA (Jan. 17), Arizona (Jan. 21) and then hosts Washington State (Jan. 29).

ASU hosts Arizona on Sunday, Feb. 22 and also will take on USC in another Sunday night game on Feb. 15.

The Pac-10 Tournament is March 11-14 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.